i’ve been staring at my notes app for over ten minutes trying to start this review, but every time i get to starting it it, i just can’t think of what to say. the top review for this episode says, “…but no other show that i’ve seen has gone here. no other show has had the balls to do it. fully. to this extent” which is pretty much the perfect description of this episode. what happens just effects me in an unexplainable way, something i haven’t felt since 4x3 of succession, or more broadly, 6x15 of bojack horseman. you can see how the deepness of this episode seems to have impacted a lot of other shows, but i don’t think any of them have ever done it as good as this. [SPOILERS] the sopranos’ #1 strength to me has always been how it subverts the audience with its deaths. this has always been a show about people rather than mafia members, inspecting the humanity and violent personality of the mafia members, so their deaths are not exciting, rather they are blunt, uncomfortable, and inhumane. this is because the sopranos has purposefully killed off its characters in unexciting and un-mafia-esque ways, for example, look at pussy: the build up to his death was nauseating and surreal, and the death itself was unexpected, brutal, offbeat, and left him unfulfilled (he didn’t get to sit down). another example is ralphie, who gets killed by tony in a rage due to him… killing a horse to save money. it wasn’t that he beat to death a stripper, nor any of the offensive jokes he made, nor any of the business deals he intervened, it was because he killed tony’s horse (not to say he didn’t deserve it). the way ralphie is killed is messy and chaotic, and not in a fun or choreographed way. the way he is disposed of is done very nonchalantly and unflinchingly. other less relevant characters, like jackie and richie apriel are both characters i shouldn’t have to explain. i even forgot to mention vito, who is beaten to death for being gay just a few moments after he decides to go back to the mafia. these kinds of deaths are the exact opposite of what we expect mafia / crime show deaths to be, so them being like this leads to an incredibly sad subversion that no other show has ever really done right. the final example of relevant mafia members deaths would be adriana, which is easily the most exciting one. her death itself is inhumane and uncanny as always, she is left crawling on the floor in the middle of the woods, being shot by someone she would likely call a friend. what’s exciting is what it does for christopher: he’s finally fully committed to the mafia now, he has absolutely nothing to lose. i think i, and many others, fell for this trap of being excited for christopher. not to imply that me or anyone else was excited that he was ruining himself further, but i was excited in a kind of thrilled way, looking forward to the crazy stuff christopher would do, and maybe, as it’s a bit expected that he is to eventually die, how explosive his death must be. christopher has always wanted an arc, but the only real arc he ever would have gotten would be if he left with adriana into witness protection, or if he went sober and left with her earlier. but he did neither. he never changed, as much as the rehab arc helped him, he was so devoted to tony that when he was offered alcohol by him in 6x9, he just took it to please him. christopher never made any real progress at rehab, the real issue he had was him not understanding that he will always be viewed as a kid. and i understood this all before watching this episode. i understood how no character in this show will get an exciting death, how christopher does not have an arc because he refuses to change, and yet i still got fucking baited. last episode ramps up the tension so well, and i still somewhat believed in the promise for excitement from 5x12, so i was ready for christopher to shoot paulie, or tony to shoot christopher, or christopher to snitch on the feds and then kill himself or something, anything crazy. deep down, i still wanted what christopher wanted, i wanted to see him fulfill that part of him, as disgusting as that is. if anyone should get the exciting mafia arc and death, it should be christopher, i thought. after all, it’s all he ever wanted. and it didn’t happen. because of a coincidence, two girls driving with their learners permit after dark, tony was able to kill christopher by drowning him in his own blood, shutting his nose and depleting his oxygen. the sad fact is that none of these mobsters really have arcs, they just have violent lives that leaves them stressed outside of work, and yet christopher still refused to change. it’s likely that his writings, although he may be talented, we’re just him projecting what he wants: excitement in the mob, the arc he’s always wanted, what i deep down wanted him to have. it does not happen, because christopher does not deserve that, and i don’t deserve that. then there’s the rest of the episode, which plays out in the most drawn out and offbeat way it could have possibly been done. the final 8 minutes, being tony vomiting, getting lucky at the casino, and shouting “i get it” at the world are so nauseatingly shot and uncomfortably edited that i thought at least 20 minutes had passed by in that period. it is, by far, the best sequence of scenes this show has ever had, and maybe the best 3 scenes in a row in any show, ever. the final scene is somewhere in my top 10 scenes of all media. it is james gandolfini’s best performance and it is the best shot scene of the show. tony’s “i get it” is a top 3 piece of single dialogue in all media, rivaling death note’s “you and i will be parting ways soon,” as much as i love that line. tony shouting “i get it” at the world is also the most thought provoking line of the show: what does tony get? does he get how he has made no progress in therapy? does he get how he has been slowly regressing from his hopeful perspective of life he developed on 6x4? does he get how the only reason he was able to kill christopher was because he viewed him as a parental figure, as that was why he was able to get him back into drinking and impulse decisions, and that was ultimately how he was able to kill him? is he addressing the universe of how lucky he is, referring to his time spent gambling in the same day, believing he has an almost unworldly amount of luck, being able to kill christopher and then have such success at the casino? (edit: the more i’ve thought about it, i’ve came to the conclusion that this is him acknowledging the world how he will never change. after years of struggling to change, with him very recently beginning to sink back into his violent urges, the universe practically drops an opportunity to kill christopher into his lap. after that, he goes and has sex with his former business partner, and gets extremely lucky at the casino. the universe has been repeatedly rewarding him for bad behavior his whole life, and as it feels like changing is completely impossible for him due to his upbringing, the universe is encouraging bad behavior and discouraging change. him shouting at the world, “i get it!” is almost him saying “i get it, universe, i shouldn’t try to change.”) this episode is something i’m going to have to let sink in more, even though it’s already been a full day since i watched it, (i actually watched this episode august 1st) i still need to think about it more. i’m so glad to have watched this show, top 10 episode of all time. i’m now going to watch the last 3 episodes, thank you everyone for being here with me throughout this show.